EUGENE, Oregon — Terrance Laird chased down Matthew Boling on the anchor leg of the 4x100m relay and LSU opened championship day on a winning note on Day three at the 2021 NCAA Outdoor Championships on Friday (11).
Houston dropped the baton on the first exchange and finished eight while, Texas Tech failed to finish the nine-team race.
Collecting the baton slightly behind, Laird, arguably the best collegiate anchor runner this season, accelerated down the home straight to stop the clocked at a season’s best and collegiate leading time of 38.48 seconds to win the gold medal.
Boling and Georgia had a slight lead on the last leg but were unable to hold off the Tigers, as the Bulldogs crossed the finishing line in 38.54s, their fastest time for the 2021 season.
Florida State and North Carolina A&T both ran 38.60, but the Seminoles were rewarded with the bronze medal after the officials went to the photo finish image to separate the two teams.
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Five teams posted a time faster than 39-seconds in the final on Friday, as Clemson ran 38.96 to take fifth place.
Rounding out the finishers were Texas (39.13) in sixth place, followed by Texas A&M (39.13).
Meanwhile, Houston, which entered the championships ranked No. 1 with a 38.49 performance earlier this season, was eighth in 42.87 after making a mess on the first exchange and drop the baton.
The Cougars, who were running out of lane eight, managed to pick the baton back up and finished the race, but they were never going to trouble the podium finishers after that early mistake.
